Case Over Tiananmen Vigil Adjourned To October 15

The West Kowloon Court on Tuesday adjourned the case against 26 leading pro-democracy activists over the Tiananmen massacre candlelight vigil to October 15, pending the prosecution’s request to transfer the cases to the District Court.

The defendants include the leaders of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho and Chow Hang-tung, media tycoon Jimmy Lai and the former head of the now-disbanded Demosisto, Joshua Wong.

They have been charged with organising, inciting others to join or taking part in an unauthorised assembly at Victoria Park to commemorate the Tiananmen Square massacre.

The annual gathering was not given permission by the police for the first time, citing the social distancing measures imposed due to Covid-19 pandemic. But thousands of people assembled at the park despite this to mark the bloody crackdown on Beijing students on June 4, 1989.

At the hearing on Tuesday, the prosecution said immigration records show that two of those charged, Sunny Cheung and Nathan Law, have left Hong Kong.

West Kowloon Magistrate Peter Law told the prosecution to send the summonses to Cheung and Law again.

Law had said that he fled to the UK around the time the national security law came into effect in July.

Pro-Beijing newspapers reported that Cheung fled the SAR last month, which he didn’t deny or confirm. He had been posting on social media about international relations since the reports surfaced, but never mentioned his whereabouts.